The singular friendship between a humble Latino worker and a white and gay television presenter is the basis of “Papi Chulo”, whose protagonist, Matt Bomer, said that in times of confrontation and hatred like the current one this film sends a humanist message and hope against the clichés.
“I think we live in times of great division where people are encouraging us to build walls between communities,” the actor told Efe.
“The fact that here we have two different characters, both from communities that have been marginalized or can be stereotyped in the cinema, that we give them a real depth and a human dimension, and that they are able to connect with each other and become better people for that, I think it’s a very important message, “he added.
Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a series for “The Normal Heart” and also known for films like “Magic Mike” (2012), Bomer (Webster Groves, Missouri, 1977) leads with the Latin Alejandro Patiño the cast from “Papi Chulo”, a modest and emotional film, between drama and comedy, which arrives on Friday at theaters.
With the direction of John Butler, “Papi Chulo” focuses on Sean (Bomer), a popular presenter of time with many personal problems, which he tries to hide, due to the end of a relationship.
After collapsing during a television broadcast, Sean faces a homemade reform for which he hires Ernesto (Patiño), a Mexican worker with whom he establishes an unlikely and tender friendship.
Applauded at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and with the characteristic air of “indie” cinema that with a very simple story reaches the heart of the audience, “Papi Chulo” is supported by two notable interpretations of Bomer and Patiño and in the doubts and intimate contradictions of his two characters.
“The great dichotomy of Sean is that, on paper, he is someone who should be happy and feel fulfilled, but not: he is dying inside,” Bomer described.
“He tries to present a pretty face to the world, something that gives comic tension to the character, but as we see in the first scene, when he has a nervous breakdown in the middle of his weather forecast, he is breaking into pieces,” he added.
At that moment appears Ernesto, who represents almost a world opposite his own.
Sean is white, gay and has a life almost of high class, Ernesto lives in a modest and Latino neighborhood; one is practically alone, the other has a large Mexican family by his side; and while the first one sinks dragged by the past, the second one seems to support him in everything.
“In Ernesto he sees someone with the stability he longs for,” Bomer said.
“Sean can not even stand still and here comes someone solid as a rock and with whom he is capable of being his most authentic I. He is someone who listens to him and accepts his humanity,” he said.
However, Ernesto barely speaks English, which gives rise to some fun situations in “Papi Chulo”.
In this sense, Patiño indicated that his alter ego deals “little by little” with “understanding what kind of person” Sean is.
“The first time, when he takes me off work and we go to a lake to row a boat, he says: ‘You know what, Ernesto, you’re a person who knows how to hear very well, thanks for that.’ And I do not understand him because I do not speak English, that’s the joke of the characters, “he explained.
“Why are you taking me away and putting me in situations that I should not be?” I call my wife and say, “I do not know, I’m here on a boat, with a little boy, I’m paddling him, and then we’re going to walk and it’s Sunday, it’s giving me money, everything we’re doing is a bit of pleasure, ‘”he said of an Ernesto who, at first, does not understand Sean’s emotional needs.
Finally, Bomer, who is married to the publicist Simon Halls, stressed that the homosexuality of his role is treated in “Papi Chulo” without resorting to the thick line.
“His sexuality is basically a small part of who he is (…) We see his professional life, his friends, something of his romantic life, what he faces as a human being: simply a complete vision of who he is And it’s not a traditional and stereotyped role at all, “he said.
“And that’s what you’re looking for for any character, not only for the LGBTQ +: simply for any character,” he concluded. (EFEUSA) .-
